Living For Today
by Gnarled Bone
Summary: Naruko is an amnesiac teen found by Kyouko's mother, Kanata. For three years she was raised by them and when a strange "priest" gives an odd offer for her to go to Yokai Academy, free of charge, she finds it hard to turn down. ::Femslash, yuri. Updates are random and likely sparse until the completion of another fiction.::


Prologue

Electricity cackled and quickly went mute in the roar of rushing water. The sparks emanating from the hand behind her back faded.

Red eyes stared at her almost callously; his blank expression, along with her blurring vision, hid the turmoil that swirled behind that crimson gaze. Neither moved—besides the beating of the monstrous hands that kept them both aloft in the air—although for different reasons: He for the sudden end to the battle and she because of the pain wracking her body.

He winced then. His eyes flared with a gradually growing heat but he rejected the urge to rub them.

The girl impaled upon his arm clutched it feebly. Blood covered her front and flowed down his limb. Dulling blue eyes were half-lidded, but still showed shock in their gaze. locked on the object protruding through her abdomen and out her back. Her breathing grew fainter and fainter and he struggled to keep his ears locked onto the sound with the thundering of the sky and the rage of the waterfall.

Her headband came undone and disappeared into the rapids below. A spasm sent her ever closer to the edge of oblivion.

Her soon-to-be killer's throat grey dry. He could feel her heart's pulse begin to slow. He swallowed; his tongue felt leathery and raw all of a sudden.

Did he not want this? The power that would set his eyes equal to his brother's?

"You pulled back," His voice nearly cracked. "You really are an idiot."

She did not speak, for she could not. Not that she didn't try, but crimson slipped from her lips instead of words. She choked slightly and wondered if the chakra-made lightning reached her throat. From the tell-tale feeling of Kyuubi's chakra surging through her body furiously, despite the hand that pierced through the center of stomach, the fox was desperately trying to reverse the damage. The state of the seal was an anomaly in and of itself as, while the flesh that bore it was stripped away by the Chidori, the demon still obviously remained bound to her.

With the boy's arm still through her gut, it impeded the fox's efforts to heal her. She grey weaker with every second as her debilitated body hung from the limb, the agonizing support draining her of her strength. Another wave of searing pain swept over her as his hand jerked slightly.

She forced her eyes to remain on his, but they wavered from fatigue and the strange, six-pointed stars that formed within the eerie irises. She did not know what the change in his eyes meant but didn't bother to ponder on it as she struggled to stay conscious. Her eyelids kept drooping shut without her consent and she had trouble peeling them open with willpower alone.

Strangely, she began to calm. The pain numbed.

She hoped it was merely from the shock instead of a sign that she was dying.

The instigator of her suffering swallowed once more. His arm was beginning to tremble from flesh constricting around it and the constant force of gravity trying to drag down his former friend into the depths below. He considered apologizing to the crippled blonde, but the thought was ridiculous. The deed was done with the will to complete it. The kunoichi's reluctance to fight him with the intent to kill only sped up the process.

The heavens began to weep.

Finally regathering his wits, he watched her go limp and inhaled heavily. Her heartbeat was far too weak to feel, and his eyes inflamed as his mind decided her dead. He started to withdraw his arm and murmured somberly to his defeated adversary, "I told you that I would sever those bonds, dobe. . ."

He blankly observed her tossed body fall into the waterfall, she being pulled by the down by the falling torrent. He then raised his bloodied hand.

His fingers brushed scratched metal and seconds later his headband trailed after her, symbolizing the last remnants of their friendship.

A familiar emotion rose within him as he raised his hand to cover one of his eyes as it reached the pinnacle of its transformation faster than the other. He knew exactly what it was. He had felt it before.

Loss. It was wound that left no cut, no burn on his exterior. It origins were unknown, as hidden as a subtle poison snaking through his body and warping his mind.

Only when both Naruko and the headband descended down the waterfall and quickly sank into the plunge pool did he turn away. Gliding down, he landed painfully on his ancestors side of the valley and stood there with his back to the river. He decided the pain from his injuries were nothing in the wake of his crime.

Nothing could compare to the price he paid for power.

_Am I just like him?_ he wondered numbly.

_"Foolish little brother. . ."_

The words echoed all around him, tormenting him. Sasuke spared a quick glance at the raging waters, clutching the arm soaked in soaked in Naruko's blood. He half-expected, half-hoped she would rise up from the depths like a phoenix and do as she had threatened: break his limbs and drag him back to Konoha by force.

His eyes stung, and he knew it wasn't just because of his Sharingan transcending. He finally forced himself to look away, abandoning the valley.

_Anything for power._

Several moments later a deep glow illuminated from right below the waterfall.

* * *

><p>The pounding of the rain, footsteps, and the loud rumble of engines and whir of tires were dull and monotonous in Kyouko's ears. The thirteen-year-old walked side-by-side with her mother and was carefully not to stray from beneath the umbrella the older woman held tightly.<p>

Grey clouds rolled, looking like a blanket of dark smoke, and thunder boomed. The sky lit up as lightning crashed far off. The weather did not cause much alarm for Kanata and her daughter. Both hurried regardless, not wishing to get a cold from the sudden downpour. Kyouko huddled into the warmth of her jacket, her short hair clinging to her forehead and nape. The weather painted a somber mood for all beneath the heavy rain. She then stared at the sky, an uneasy feeling tugging at her gut.

She had an unsettling premonition: Things were going to change. Something big was about to happen. Kyouko knew this, but could not predict what would happen. That alone bugged her.

Her mother glanced at her worriedly as the girl brushed her wet locks from her face with a strange expression, "Is something wrong Kyouko?"

Kyouko merely smiled and shook her head, masking her unease and replying, "Nothing." _Yet,_ her subconsciousness concluded. She forced away the unease and kept in step with her mother.

"And the weather forecast said there was only a thirty-five percent chance of rain, not a thunderstorm. . ." Kanata muttered, gaining a small smile from Kyouko.

* * *

><p>A thud resounded and Naruko slammed into wet, dirty pavement. She rolled end-over-end before crashing headfirst into a brick wall and caused a trashcan to spill its contents upon the wet alley floors. A small trail of blood followed after the blonde, several splotches appearing where her body made contact with on the alley floor.<p>

She slumped against the wall in the tattered remains of her beloved neon-orange jumpsuit. Choking and hacking up water, she attempted to move. The blonde only managed to fall onto her side. As the jinchuuriki stilled, one would think her dead upon seeing the state she was in. She breathed very faintly in testament to that.

Blood was splattered all along the orange jumpsuit in worrying amounts. Two gaping tears could be seen in the fabric on her shoulder and stomach; if anyone saw her back they would find an identical set.

Despite there being naught but a scar upon her revealed shoulder, a large, fist-shaped hole laid on her abdomen, burns in the shape of lightning branching outwards from it. The bright, unzipped jacket and black shirt she wore underneath was hanging by the seams. Long and wild golden tresses had come undone from its simple ponytail and hid her forehead and cheek from view as rainwater dripped from it.

A headband rested near her. It had a rectangular slab of metal attached to the dark blue cloth and a leaf-shaped symbol engraved on it. A scratch lanced across the insignia as if carved by a knife.

Naruko's eyelashes fluttered. Two gems of sapphire peered out wearily beneath her hair but she saw nothing. Her gaze was as unfocused as the thoughts wandering about in her depressive haze. Blood trickled down from her scalp from where she had collided with the wall. Pain disoriented her and confusion muddled her mind. Shock and her weakened limbs kept her from trying to get up again.

_. . . He really tried to kill me._

Abstractly, Naruko knew that she should have been dead, _would_ have been dead if it weren't for the Kyuubi. Her hesitance to fight Sasuke honestly could have easily lead to her death—no_._ It would have been the reason she died, for despite all her childish antics Naruko was and still is a skilled shinobi. How else would she manage to avoid the ANBU after pulling off such a wide-scale prank as the defacement of the Hokage Mountain itself? In broad daylight?

Naruko had fought on par with the Uchiha while holding back, only resorting to the use of the fox's chakra when Sasuke utilized the Curse Seal and reduced himself to that monstrous appearance with equally terrible strength. Despite his transformation, she still could have succeeded in defeating the Uchiha if only she had not pulled back.

Still, those were "if onlys". Those didn't apply to this situation. Not where she had been whisked away by glowing waters and into this strange place. The discomfort of being tugged through sludge accompanied her, pulling her into this bizarre realm with horribly loud beasts that roared to and fro in the distance. Her olfactory sense were awash with putrid scents, courtesy of the garbage littering around her vulnerable form.

Gaining some awareness she felt faint traces of Kyuubi's chakra surging through her, healing her, but definitely not at the rate it usually could. Ignoring that, she took stock of her unfavorable situation.

She still could not move. Her mind kept drifting farther and farther away as exhaustion set in and made her very flesh and bones feel like lead. Her vision began blurring. Her sight was a blend of yellow, orange, and a dull, dirty grey; then it all ebbed away to make way for the enroaching darkness. While her hearing grew muffled she still managed to hear somebody cry out. The noise sounded out like she was underwater and sinking, voices garbled and undistinguishable.

Before she was tucked off into the fog of slumber, she mustered enough of clarity to cling on and internally call out.

_Kyuubi. . .?_

For only a few moments—more than enough time for the demon fox to answer—there was only silence.

And then Uzumaki Naruko closed her eyes and embraced slumber, feeling more alone than she has ever had before.

* * *

><p>Both mother and daughter had heard the several thumps, followed by the clatter of tin and the noise of a body slamming against a wall. Kyouko ran off, just a bit ahead of Kanata, to see what happened, only to halt as soon as she reached the alley entrance, eyes wide. Her gaze locked onto the orange figure and saw a girl - bloody, beaten and bruised - sitting against the wall, unconscious.<p>

"Mom! There's someone the—she's hurt!" Kyouko cried in a panic after investigating the sounds originating from between the two shops. She vaguely realized the kid looked around her age. The thought did not muster much attention as they both scrambled to help her.

"Oh my God. . ." Kanata trailed off as she crouched down to check on her. Dirt, bruises and blood smudged the blonde's pale skin. Upon seeing deep penetration in her chest, she gasped in horror. It looked like something pierced her chest and charred it along the way, what with the lightly burned flesh around it.

While her mother assessed the situation, Kyouko panicked. Blood coated the girl's front—_and oh, let's not forget that a giant, freaking HOLE is in her gut! _Kyouko finally had a reason to understand why she felt that sensation earlier. She ran her hands through her hair and distractedly realized she was shaking, and not from the cold. Kyouko had seen such things on television, but experiencing it in real life was a different matter altogether. Her skin paled and she averted her eyes, not wanting to look at the blonde's injured state.

As her daughter panicked, Kanata acted quickly. She took out her phone and dialed 119 to alert the hospital and authorities to the problem. Once she had answered all the questions and told them where they were, she hung up and took comfort in the fact that an ambulance on the way. She then surveyed the unconscious form to see if there was anyway she could help.

From what she could see, the only truly fatal wound was the penetration of her stomach. Peculiarly, the scorched skin surrounding it arranged itself in a strange, lightning-like pattern that stretched out and away from the blonde's stomach. Kanata also saw black markings but they were too faint and obscured by the burns to make out.

Tucking the blonde's long, damp hair back, Kanata saw that blood had crawled out from her hairline and ran over a closed eye and a whiskered (Kanata just realized she had birthmarks - or were they scars?) cheek.

"God, why would anyone do such a thing?" she mumbled, taking out a clean tissue from her purse and making gentle swipes along the young child's face to free it of the life liquid. She could just imagine the pain she had went through as she took in that, while even in a deep sleep, the blonde held an anguished expression.

Thoughts rushed through her head as she watched her. What if Kyouko was in this position? Where were the girl's parents? Were they terrified, worried? Who did this and why?

Glancing back, she saw that Kyouko calmed down, but she held an anxious expression on her face as she paced. She was talking to Tsukune on her phone, as her mother could vaguely hear his voice filtered through the speakers. He was obviously speaking very loud. There were a few people crowding at the mouth of the alley. A few whispers of concern appeared here and there. Some of the more sympathetic ones went towards her, offering any help they could provide.

Sirens were soon heard. She felt a small bit of relief, but continued her vigil over the girl. When the ambulance arrived, she kept wondering if the wound on the unconscious blonde's stomach had somehow become smaller. Kanata dismissed the thought.

She was obviously just seeing things.

* * *

><p>A groan pushed past her lips.<p>

Eyes that were once shut tight opened, squinting and blinking rapidly at the intrusive brightness of her surroundings. "Ouch," she murmured. Her skull felt like it was going to split open, and everything was so nauseatingly white she thought she was dead.

Then she heard the beeping in the background.

Some instinct made her body jolt and she hissed when she attempted to shoot up, clutching her abdomen as it made its painful protest in the wake of her motion. _Definitely not dead,_ she noted sarcastically. All instinct that surfaced receded at the throbbing twinges in her gut. Gingerly sitting back when no immediate danger presented itself, she looked over her bedridden form.

She could feel think bandages wrapped from her waist to just below her breasts underneath the hospital gown. The material also circled her skull. She theorized that whatever happened to have it bound around her head probably caused her loss of memory.

Her hand reached up and fingered the white cloth—she felt she was missing something important. The smell of anesthetics was thick in her nostrils. She looked around and saw the machine that resonated the irritating beeping sound, and it looked slightly familiar. She recognized it as a heart monitor, but she thought it was different from the ones she imagined.

She sat on a hospital bed, some sort of tube attached to her wrist. Positioned at the bedside were two chairs. A large black box with a screen hung on the wall directly in front of her, to which purpose she did not know. Vague noise filtered in through the cracked door.

_Where am I? Some kind of hospital?_ Weird, she could not recall any of the hospitals that she had visited before.

Then, as she pondered on it,_ I can't remember anything!_

Except for her name.

_What happened to me? How did I get here? Why can't I remember anything else?_ Briefly, the monitor with the squiggly, zigzagging line spiked before resuming its steady beeping as she stamped down on all her alarm. Thinking on it made her head ache worse, and Naruko settled back into the bed when she realized she would not be able to get up without the risk of upsetting her wounds.

She turned her head, catching a slice of sunlight hitting her face. Naruko squinted and raised an arm to shield her face.

Her spot on the bed gave her a clear view through the large window she just now noticed, although it was only through the sterile white colored blinds. She lifted her other arm and barely managed to grab the drawstring. With slight effort, she managed to pull them up enough to see outside.

What she saw made her breath hitch for a lengthy stretch of time.

Pillars of concrete and glass stretched high into the dark sky with colorful, glowing signs that shined and flickered from them; _Almost like stars,_ she thought absentmindedly. Down below she took in the both huge, wide and narrow yellow-striped roads occupied by large, rumbling metal vehicles. The strips of hard, dark rock canvassed this _city_ as far as she could see.

On the sidewalks, varying types of people walked, but the majority, she realized, had dark hair. The others had different shades, which she found more familiar; Naruko lingered on one with pink. An unexplainable sense of nostalgia and failure threatened to overwhelm her. She drew a deep breath.

A name lingered on the tip of her tongue.

Sadly, it was forgotten as soon as her mind acknowledged it. Feeling frustrated, she nibbled on lip as her eyebrows knitted together. The tension caused her muscles to hurt, so she shut the blinds halfway before letting go of the string and then relaxed back into her pillow. She used the ceiling as an inadequate substitute to look at.

As she ignored the tempo mimicking her heartbeat, the noise circulating all around her snatched up her attention. Voices rose or fell in conversation and shoes tapped loudly on tiled floors as people walked the halls. It was difficult to pinpoint where they were all coming from with so many echoing throughout the immense building she was in. Even the floors below her had sounds resonating from them. A sort of comical song was playing from one.

So focused on the laughable singing below she barely noticed when two pairs of footsteps halted at the door leading to her hospital room. Her eyes shot to it and she sat up again. With clunk the door opened, releasing a squeaky creak.

Two women, one obviously younger—barely a teenager—and slightly shorter, stared at her in surprise. Both had similar features, including dark hair and teal eyes. But she noted the smaller looked a little more tomboyish than what she assumed was her mother. Her hair was shorter and her clothes seemed less feminine.

The blonde merely blinked at them and tilted her head to the side slightly, perfectly and unintentionally imitating an adorable, clueless child.

"Um, hi?" Naruko offered dumbly as they just stood there.

The older raven-haired woman, who also had a few age-lines, finally reacted. She sat in one of the chairs beside her bed, smiling gently. "Hello. My name is Kanata, and my daughter here is Kyouko. What's your name?"

Slightly surprised, Naruko decided being polite to the woman and fulfilled her request. "Naruko." That was as much as she could remember. The blonde shifted her gaze as the other girl, Kyouko, mimicked her mother and sat in the remaining chair, her gaze concerned but grinning broadly as she offered a small greeting, to which Naruko returned hesitantly. "Do you know how I got here?"

Kanata clasped her hands together loosely. "Yesterday, we found you in an alley unconscious. You were hurt pretty badly so I called 119 and waited for the ambulance to pick you up and take you to the hospital. I'm actually a little shocked you're awake right now; the doctor's said you may not wake up for days with all those injuries."

Naruko face showed confusion. She'd been hurt? That was probably why she couldn't remember anything. Also, she didn't know what "119" or an "ambulance" is or meant, but withheld the urge to ask as Kanata didn't seem to be finished speaking.

"Do you know what happened or who did this? You hit your head and the doctors suggested that you could possibly have amnesia. The police are still investigating the scene, but there are very little clues as to who attacked you."

They watched as Naruko struggled to recall anything from before she woke up. It was obviously difficult and for Naruko she was just groping blindly in the dark for fraying strands. After failing, she shook her head miserably.

"Are you sure?" Kanata pressed gently, only receiving a nod in response. "Do you know your family name or how old you are? Your birthday?"

At that, the bedridden girl opened her mouth. Then she closed it. Frustration showed on her face.

Finally, she said, "I'm thirteen, or close to it. Maybe twelve, maybe fourteen. . . I can't remember my birthday, so I'm not sure. . ."

Kyouko spoke up, "We're about the same age then," She smiled in an attempt to cheer up the disheartened girl. It worked a little. Naruko's curling lips made her look adorable.

After a brief discussion, Kanata informed Naruko that she would be released from the hospital in two weeks—if all goes well and she recovers from the trauma her body suffered (she left out the part where it was a miracle Naruko even survived), and that the police would likely visit to speak with her.

Currently any family or guardian she had were yet to be found and if none could be located there was very real possibility that Naruko could be put in an orphanage.

The thought frightened Naruko just as much as waking up without any knowledge of, well, anything! The idea of being put in an orphanage sparked a familiar foreboding within her chest, followed by sorrow and something else she felt accustomed to. She confided in Kanata just to release her fears and, while she didn't see why the woman would go out of her way even further than she already had, the mother promised to do everything she could to help her.

Kanata and Kyouko left later on when a nurse came to change her bandages, leaving Naruko with an achingly familiar sensation of loneliness. She managed to ignore it and found entertainment in the weird machine called a television.

The blonde eventually discovered, or realized, really, that she did NOT like hospitals. The smell of chemicals, blood (she just somehow knew the smell of copper stemmed from the essential body fluid, which she confirmed by the dried substance on her bandages), and the fact that she could not get out of bed barring from going to the restroom left her feeling very bored and restless a large part of the time. The staff often had to watch her to keep her from slipping out of her room to explore.

The doctors, upon replacing her bandages on the tenth day, expressed astonishment at her quick recovery. Most of her injuries were gone. Most didn't even leave a scar! The hole in her navel had quickly begun healing itself and the process was further quickened by the effects of modern day medicine, but it was unlikely that it too would leave without a mark.

Naruko did not really understand their wonder at her speedy recovery. Their constant looks of fascination made her feel like a specimen. It bothered her.

For those past two weeks, Kyouko and Kanata visited her once every day—sometimes twice. Naruko was very thankful for them. They actually came back on their own (why was that so _weird_ to her?) and relieved her of the daily boredom and loneliness. Naruko particularly enjoyed throwing a few barbs to Kyouko, to the amusement of Kanata. Needless to say, despite getting into a few childish arguments, the two girls were fast becoming best friends. Kanata had taken it upon herself to help educate Naruko to the world outside of the dreary white building with the time she herself spent with the blonde. Naruko was easily fascinated by the things the older Aono spoke of, despite Kyouko having a few jokes at her expense (Kanata scolded her for it so Naruko got a laugh out of it; Kyouko only glared at her as Kanata playfully scolded her for agitating a patient).

The police visited her a week into her stay at the hospital, just as Kanata predicted.

Not bothering with pleasantries, they immediately began questioning her. They apparently had found little to no evidence except for a single item—from which they acquired DNA that was not hers—that they placed in a bag (thusly labeled as "evidence", Naruko observed) and brought along to see if she could recognize it.

"It" was a scratched headband.

Upon seeing it images and words flashed through her mind, although most were indecipherable. The main ones that remained at the forefront of her mind were the words shinobi, chakra, the symbol on the headband—only without the long gouge across it, and. . .

A pair of crimson eyes enveloped her vision, starry pupils spinning treacherously within.

She felt. . . _betrayed_.

As quickly as they came, the fragmented, vague memories fled and left her with a piercing headache. She was unable to remember naught but the word shinobi.

She snapped irritably to the police as they continued to press despite her obvious discomfort, "If I remembered anything, I would, but unfortunately I can't. Honestly, if it would get you guys out of my room, I would tell you anything if I knew! Leave me alone already, geez!"

She was a thirteen year old girl—maybe—and amnesiac to boot. She might have addressed them wrongly, by seriously, what the hell were they thinking badgering her? How many times would she have to say that she didn't remember until it sunk into their heads?

No matter how much they tried to drag it out of her, she was unable to give them an answer. They left, upset by their unsuccessful attempt at gathering information. Surprisingly, they agreed to her request to keep the headband as they had more than enough time to gather data from it.

She kept the headband on her at all times, finding it far more familiar to her than the surroundings she was confined to for the past few days. She always had it either wrapped around her forehead to keep her spiky, wild bangs out of the way or loosely tied around her neck. Sometimes it hurt to look at it, but Naruko didn't care. If it could make her remember like it did with that word "shinobi", then she would endure.

There were still no leads as to who Naruko's family was or what guardian she may have had. The possibility of her going to an orphanage progressively grew into the inevitable as the last week neared its end far too soon in her opinion. Despite that fact, Naruko did her best not to allow it to affect her during the Aono's visits. Kanata noticed this—barely—during the last two days as Naruko and Kyouko bantered. The blonde was trying to distract herself and it showed with how her grins seemed just the tiniest bit forced.

Naruko was quite skilled in bearing a grin instead of a grimace.

Kanata wondered what to do. Naruko had quickly grown on her, despite not even knowing her for a month, and it was plain that Kyouko had taken to her too when observing the extra bounce in her step when they were going to visit her.

The girl was strange, but not in a bad way. The blonde's personality showed that she was blunt, mischievous, and dense at times, but honest. She was rambunctious like a child and had just as much energy as one, if not more. Even so, she was not insensitive or selfish, shown in the way she once slipped out of her bed to help soothe a small kid wandering around who just had his mother put in the ER and had gotten separated from his family in his distraught state.

Naruko was mystified by many everyday things, while some she already knew about. Kanata found it unusual that she could remember some things but not others, like how she knew what a radio was but not a not a computer. On one occasion the whiskered teen went down an elevator with a nurse and jumped when it started moving, showing just how ignorant she was to some things. Kanata enjoyed the rapt attention Naruko could display when being told something new and interesting, although the blonde tended to show her dislike to anything related to written tests as Kanata found out by giving her a small one on the things she learned. Regardless of her dislike, she did well enough when she focused on it, especially when Kanata encouraged her and claimed that she was certain she'd do well. She passed, barely scraping by, but it was enough. It was very obvious she was more of a kinesthetic learner rather than one who learned from lectures or books.

Kanata had also discovered, unfortunately, that upon bringing the girl some miso ramen she gained an unhealthy obsession with it. It was only something easy to make, just to avoid the hospital food.

The blonde didn't chew, she _inhaled_ the broth and finished in a minute at _most_. Then she went right to the next one. After finding out just how many she could eat in a row Kanata found herself praying she would get burned off of it, lest her addiction burned through her wallet. She was honestly surprised Naruko's stomach didn't bulge from all the salty noodles. In fact, the small girl didn't even seem to gain any weight from it, which she found a bit unfair as a woman who found herself watching what she ate to make sure she didn't gain any unnecessary flab, or visiting gyms.

Naruko revealed a verbal tic one day. Kyouko took full advantage by teasing the blonde of it. When she first heard the word "dattebane," the teal-eyed girl ended up snorting, before breaking into outright giggles and prompting a blush from the whiskered teen and a humored smile from Kanata. Safe to say, Naruko was wary of saying it around others, especially around her dark-haired friend.

All in all, Naruko was a fun and cheery person to be around.

Still, Kanata could not help but be hesitant to act on her idea. She might just be getting ahead of herself. There was no official information on Naruko despite her apparent age and given name. Where were her family and friends? More importantly, how did Naruko even end up in this situation? There was also the question if the girl even desired to accept such a life changing option.

"Wow, you really suck at drawing," Kyouko teased the easily irritated blonde, whose eyes narrowed into a glare.

Naruko set down the notebook covered in doodles and the pencil Kanata gave her for entertainment before quickly taking the pillow behind her and throwing it at Kyouko. It smacked the teal-eyed right in the face even though she ducked.

The whiskered girl gave a loud laugh as the pillow hit the floor and revealed Kyouko's aggravated expression. "Like you're any better. At least I don't do stick figures."

"Oi, you little midget!"

A vein throbbed. "I am _not_ a midget!" Naruko snapped heatedly, before smirking. "At least I'm not an over bloated pig like you!"

The grit of teeth followed this remark. "What did you just say?"

"What, have you already forgotten when you tried to put your fat, dirty hands on my ram—uh, oh."

"C'mere, you!"

"Get your meaty paws away from me!"

Kanata laughed. Even though Kyouko was darting across the room to unsuccessfully capture Naruko (almost fully recovered besides the large, scabbed over scar on her stomach), both girls had smirks on their faces. The whiskered girl's quickly shifted her lips into a fox-like grin. She then easily slipped away from Kyouko's grip and proceeded to tickle Kyouko's sides, much to said friend's horror.

Laughter filled the room when Kyouko ended up tripping, backpedaling into the wall in her haste to escape Naruko's relentless onslaught.

Kanata smile stretched.

She had decided.


End file.
